Bread-pricking machine.



PATENTED SEPT. 6, 1904.

C. A. MEURELL. BREAD PRICKING MACHINE, APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

with flour, pricked, cut into cakes, the excess UNITED STATES PatentedSeptember 6, 1904.

CARL AUGUST MICURELL, OF SKTER, SIVEDEN.

BREAD-PRICKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,444, datedSeptember 6, 1904.

Application filed May 5, 1904. Serial No. 206,504- (No model.)

To all IU/I/O'IH/ 7'2 may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL AUoUs'r A'IEURELL, a subject of the King ofSweden and Norway, residing at Sater, Sweden, (whose post-office addressis Sater, Sweden.) have invented cerl tain new and useful Improvementsin Bread- Pricking Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention has relation to a machine designed for use in themanufacture of bread, and more particularly to the manufacture of whatis known as Swedish health-bread," which is made in the form of thincakes, the dough being spread out in a thin layer upon a flour-dustedsupport and then dusted over of flour previously dusted or scatteredthereon removed, and then baked. In the manufacture of this particularkind of bread the proportions of water and flour or meal areofimportance, as the greater the proportion of water within certainlimits the crisper the bread. Hence the dough when made up iscomparatively thin and very difficult to roll out into athin cake of asnearly uniform thickness as possible, and this, as well as the otheroperations above referred to, have before my invention been effected byhand. involving a great deal of patient labor and time.

The means for spreading the dough into a thin layer of as nearly uniformthickness as possible, the means for pricking the layer of dough, andthe means for slicing or cutting up said layer into cakes of suitable ordesirable size for handling and packing, and even the means for removingthe superfluous flour sprinkled on the layer of dough while being spreadout may be combined in one machine in bakeries where the output issufficiently large to admit of the use of a table of sufficientdimensions to provide the necessary space for the application of thevarious appliances. \Vhere the output is small, it will i ,be preferableto use separate apparatuses for performing the functions above referredto.

This invention relates more particularly to the mechanism for prickingthe sheet of dough formed on an annular rotatable table by means such asshown and described in my application for patent filed of even date withthis. I desire it, however, to be understood that I do not limit thisinvention to its use in the manufacture of the particular kind of breadhereinabove referred to, as it is evident that it may be used for themanufacture of any other kind of bread made from comparatively thinsheets of dough the pricking of which is desirable or required forwell-known purposes.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating myinvention. Fig. Qis an end elevation thereof, partly in section; andFig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view.

In the upper bifurcated ends of suitable standards I are mountedfriction-rollers 1', that work in a circular recessed track at on theunder side of an annular table I, having an external peripheral toothedrim )1 and preferably an internal downwardly-inclined or depressednarrow flange m. In one of the standards is formed a bearing for thelower end of a vertical shaft 71, which carries a pinion 0 in gear withthe toothed rim a of table I, and at its upper end said shaft has itsbearing in a lateral projection or arm 1/ of an overhead support A,which may be secured by bolts Z) to a ceiling or other overhead fixedbody. Above the arm a the shaft /1 carries a bevel wheel in gear with abcvelpinion r' on one end of a horizontal shaft (1, which has itsbearings in depending arms a of the overhead frame, and said shaftcarries a driving-pulley intermediate of frame-arms and at its oppositeend an eccentric or crank 11.

The frame or support A has a depending arm a, whose lower end isbifurcated, the arms of the bifurcated portion being connected to aslotted segment 1, and from said frame projects a pin or bolt .v, thatpasses through a longitudinal slot in a pendulous rod q, pivotallyconnected to the aforesaid crank 29, l the dough-pricking machine itsoperation will said rod passing through the segmental slot i be readilyunderstood.

in segment 6 on frame-arm a. The rod q terminates in a cross-head a, inthe opposite ends of which are formed holes through which verticallyadjustable hanger rods o pass freely. the upper ends of the rods beingscrewthreaded for the reception of a nut and jamnut. At the lower end ofeach rod is formed a bearing for the spindle 3 of a spiked roller :20,which spindle has endwise motion in said bearings.

When the overhead crank-shaft cZ is rotated by power applied to pulleye, the rod (1 is vibrated on an axis formed by the pin or bolt 8 nearthe upper end of said rod, causing the cross-head a, with the spikedroller :0, to describe the elliptical path indicated by dotted lines inFig. 2, causing the roller to traverse the layer or sheet of dough onthe table Z from the inner to the outer periphery of the latter, thenupwardly to carry the roller out of contact with the dough, then back tothe inner periphery of the table, and then downwardly to bring theroller again into contact with the dough, as will be readily understood.

lnasmuch as the roller is adjustable vertically in its bearings in thecross-head, the depth of the punctures can be regulated as clesired; butinasmuch as the table rotates continuously the movement with it of thesheet of dough would be interrupted whenever the spiked roller 00 wasrolled across it. This would result in the tendency to tear the sheet ofdough at one end of said roller and to crowd the dough against theopposite end of said roller. This is, however, efiectually avoided bythe endwise movement of the roller in its bearings. Thus when the rollerrolls across the annular sheet of dough from the inner to the outerperiphery of the table the spindleg of said roller moves from right toleft, Fig. 1, and in order to move said spindle back to a normalposition I provide an abutment in the form of an arcuate plate Z),secured to one of the standards 6 and projecting over the innerperiphery and then obliquely across the table on the left end of thespindle into the path thereof from the outer to the inner periphery ofthe table Z above the same, said plate forcing or camming the spindleback from left to right, Fig. 3.

In order to prevent the sheet of dough on table Zfrom being draggedacross the same by the spiked roller, 1 provide said table with theinner flange m, above referred to, on which flange the inner edge 2 ofthe sheet of dough lies at a more or less abrupt angle to the body ofsaid sheet, Fig. 2, thus providing a frictional resistance which hasbeen found suflicient to prevent the dragging of said sheet across thetable Z by the pricking-roller m.

From the description of the construction of Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. The combination with a rotatable table and a revolublepricking-roller; of means to move the roller across the path of thedough on said table, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a rotatable table and a revolublepricking-roller; of means to move the roller in one direction across thepath of and 'in contact with the dough on said table and in a reversedirection out of contact with such dough, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination with an annular rotatable table and a revolubleprickingsroller; of means to move the roller from one edge of the tableto the other in contact with the dough the dough, for the purpose setforth.

5. The combination with an annular rotatable table provided with adownwardly-projecting flange on its inner periphery and a revolublepricking-roller; of means to move the roller from the inner to the outeredge of said table in contact with the dough thereon and to move saidroller in a reverse direction out of contact with such dough, for thepurpose set forth.

6. The combination with a rotatable table and a revoluble andaxially-movable prickingroller; of means to move the roller in onedirection across the path of and in contact with the dough, whereby theroller is shifted axially in one direction by the moving dough, and tomove said roller in a reverse direction across the path of and out ofcontact with the dough, and means to shift the roller axially in areverse direction during its movement last referred to, for the purposeset forth.

7. The combination with a rotatable table, a pricking-roller and asupport therefor; of means to move the roller in a substantiallyelliptical path across the path of the dough on the table, for thepurpose set forth.

8. The combination with an annular rotatable table provided with adownwardly-extending flange on its inner periphery, a pricking-rollerand a support therefor; of means to move the roller in a substantiallyelliptical path across the path of the dough on the table, for thepurpose set forth.

9. The combination with an annular rotatable table, a pricking-roller,and a support for and to which said roller is connected to have verticaland endwise motion; of means to move the roller in a substantiallyelliptical path across the path of the dough on the table F from theinner to the outer edge of said table and back to the inner edge, and anabutment in the path of one end of the roller spindle 3 or journal,operating to shift the roller axially during its movement from the outerto i the inner edge of the table, for the purpose set forth.

10. The combination with a rotatable table and a pricking-roller; ofmechanism to rotate the table and simultaneously move the pricki CARLAUGUST MEURELL.

\Vitnesses:

L. KALLENRRRG, HARRY FR. ALBIHN.

